Sydney-based, Kiwi couple Kelly and Josh Muller married in Whakamarama earlier this year.
They met through friends in Mount Maunganui in 2009 and moved across the ditch to Sydney about a year later. Eight months ago they became parents to their gorgeous daughter, Sunny. Josh works for the City of Sydney Council and Kelly is a PR and Marketing Consultant for fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands.
Rather than being sticklers for tradition, Kelly and Josh said ‘I do’ in their own special way, surrounded by family and friends, near their hometown Tauranga.
Here, Kelly shares the details of their big day:
The location
We got married at a private property in Whakamarama, New Zealand. It was half an hour out of our hometown, Tauranga. The most important thing to us was creating a day with our friends and family where we could make the most of our time with them. We had a Mexican food truck instead of a sit down dinner, served food and drinks through the speeches and ran to a pretty loose runsheet. We just wanted to celebrate with the people we loved the most! Our favourite food is Mexican and we were so stoked to find a local food truck! I’m a stickler for consistency and didn’t want random bottles of wine – I also wanted to share my fave NZ wine with travelling guests – so we bought Pinot Noir, Sav and Rose all from Trinity Hill. We also had a Spiced Rum Bar for later on in the night (which was very popular right from early on), NZ beer and Antipodes Sparkling Water.
The styling
I didn’t put too much pressure on myself to find the ‘perfect’ dress, I’ve never been the ‘big, white wedding’ kind of girl. I did fall in love with the Erdem ‘Henrike’ Dress after seeing it on the runway but it was well out of my price range. I toyed with having one made but when I was 7 months pregnant, I came across the Jonathan Simkhai Burnout Brocade Dress online. It was a similar style to the Erdem in terms of length and shape, was the last one in my size and it was on sale. So I bought it. And hoped like hell it fitted me post-baby. I had it customised by Michelle Mitchell at White Elegance who cut the back out for me. I wore simple ankle strap heels which I found online, they were Carvela by Kurt Geiger and I wore minimal accessories – the Azure Ear Jacket earrings by Samantha Wills and my grandmother’s diamond cluster.
My bridesbabes all have incredibly different body shapes as well as their own personal styles so I was more than happy for them to choose their own dresses. I briefed the girls on structured, sleek white dresses with no texture, patterns or lace so they would complement mine. They chose dresses from Cmeo Collective, Nicholas and Missguided. The girls all wore the Kokomo Heels by Tony Bianco.
Josh and his groomsmen wore suits by Topman. Josh’s shoes were H by Hudson and he wore a watch by The Horse which I had delivered to him the morning of the wedding. The boys all wore their own shoes.
The flowers and decorations
I absolutely adore flowers, but to achieve what I wanted was just too expensive, so we decided to keep it super simple and we used greenery from the property itself. The owner of the property, (who is 76!!), created full-length table runners for us and they were better than I imagined! I searched for furniture to suit the style of our wedding for what seemed like months but couldn’t find what I was after, so I asked friends of ours to build it. They’ve since launched a furniture hire company called Louisiana Lucy. We ended up hiring trestle tables, bench seats, bar leaners and rugs from them. We also hired lounge settings from A Splendid Afternoon. We used the bench seats and vintage chairs from Louisiana Lucy for the ceremony and made an aisle from their vintage rugs.
We wanted to keep everything minimal and simple so other than the greenery, the only other table decorations we added were a selection of Ecoya pillar candles and madison jars in my favourite fragrance, Vanilla Bean. We didn’t carry bouquets either; instead the bridesmaids paired off and walked down the aisle together!
The rings
My ring is a custom, antique inspired diamond and sapphire by Grew & Co. I didn’t get a wedding band. Josh’s ring is a signet ring with a black diamond by Meadowlark.
The photographer
We didn’t want traditional wedding photos and for that reason, we asked my dear friend Tane Coffin, who is an editorial photographer based in Sydney. He was assisted by Olive Holland.
The cake
We didn’t have a cake but one of my best friends (who was also a bridesmaid and 7 months pregnant!!) wanted to make us cupcakes. They were gluten free carrot cakes with cream cheese icing. She baked them the day before the wedding and iced them the morning of. They went down a treat and I’m so glad we decided to have them! In lieu of a dessert table, we made 100 $2 mixtures – a constant in every New Zealand kid’s life growing up!
The music
Josh’s groomsman and best friend of 17 years created a playlist for us and absolutely nailed it. There was a mix of old-school bangers (think Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Band), dance floor hits (The Strokes and Prince) and 90s Hip Hop (Snoop and Dr Dre). The dancefloor was busy from about 8pm!!! We also had a photo booth set up from 7.30pm for a couple of hours which was a hit!
Favourite moment
SO MANY! My beautiful friend Philly teamed up with my cousin and another buddy and they sung me down the aisle to their version of Crazy Love (originally by Van Morrison and Bob Dylan). It is something I will never ever forget.
It was also so special having our daughter present. It’s definitely a different dynamic when you have a little person to consider on the day but seeing her in the front row while we promised to be one another’s forever really meant the world to us. My heart nearly exploded when we were announced as ‘The Mullers’ and Sunny reached her arms out to her Papa.
My husband’s speech was also incredible.I knew it would be good but it was really, really good. He had everyone in tears.
Unexpected moment
Josh’s best friend and groomsman dancing with Josh’s nana and twirling her around the dancefloor – after which he got nude!
*For more real wedding stories, pick up a copy of Fashion Quarterly’s Winter 2016 issue, on sale now.
